Slow Cooker Cheesy Adobo Chicken

The weather this week? Spectacular!! 58 degrees for our morning runs?!! I’m soaking it all in! As much as I love so many things about summer this is really making me start dreaming of fall. And soon we will be dreaming of all the traditional fall foods in the slow cooker. But it seems this is just a teaser. We will be back to a full blast heat furnace of summer this weekend. But no matter your weather…. I’ve got a delicious slow cooker summer recipe for you here! I mean cheese? Salsa? What could be more summer? AND it’s not a snack! It’s dinner!

I think next time I will make a double batch of this. I would have loved to have leftovers to eat for lunch. Every day for an entire week. Maybe a triple batch! There was not one little itty bitty scrap of chicken or dribble of sauce left. We scraped the crock so clean we didn’t even have to wash it (we washed it!). I mean I figured I would like it, it was my idea to make it after all. But my ideas don’t always gel with what my family likes. This time it was a home run!

You can make this as spicy or not spicy as all as you want. I went with not spicy at all since our house tends to be divided boy/girl on whether we like spicy. Girls won. So I just used a little sauce from the can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and mild salsa. Crank up the heat by adding spicier salsa or blending up one or more of the peppers from the can into your sauce.

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I think you could go as spicy as you dare here since it all gets cooled down a little at the end with the creamy homemade cheese sauce. Which I know sounds like, ugh…extra work. But I promise it’s easy, takes only about 10 minutes and is totally worth it. The taste of freshly melted cheese always wins hands down over anything you can get from a box.

You will also notice I used bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts here. I like the fact that they stay so juicy and tender in the crock and since we are not adding a lot of liquid I think this is the way to go. Once the chicken has cooked all day and is practically falling apart it is super easy to remove the skin and bones. You will be left with chicken that is so yummy it will be worth the effort!

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Excited to soon try this and your lemon chicken. We have five children (four at home) and need more meal ideas. Glad I came upon your site today! Our oldest child is now on her own and loves crockpot cooking. She gave us a crockpot for Christmas last year, but we’ve only used it once. Time for a change… some easier meals and less cleanup.

I do have a question for you since not very familiar with crockpot cooking. Is it safe to place raw meat directly into the crockpot, or is it best to cook/brown a few minutes prior? Years ago, I made stew in a crockpot but browned the beef a bit prior to placing in the pot. Also, is there ever a need for non-stick sprays with any of your recipes? If so, which spray(s) do you prefer? Thank you!!

Krissy, I’m so excited you’ve decided to try slow cooking! You will love how easy it is and hopefully will be impressed by how delicious the food can be. To answer your questions, yes you can put raw meat in the slow cooker. Some recipes do call for browning but that’s more about the flavor/texture specific to those recipes. Yes, non-stick sprays are very helpful in certain recipes and I always note it. I use either canola or olive oil spray and if it matters I try to specify otherwise just use whichever you prefer! Canola is pretty universal and doesn’t have a strong flavor so that’s usually my go-to. Let me know which recipes you try and how they turn out!!